


The Nightmare That The Sewer Can Be

by Omigosh_A_Turtle



Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018)
Genre: Angst, Donatello (TMNT) - Freeform, Drowning, Implied Death, Michelangelo (TMNT) - Freeform, TCEST DNI, back at it again with the angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-15 23:00:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28946298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Omigosh_A_Turtle/pseuds/Omigosh_A_Turtle
Summary: Donnie and Mikey decide to spend their day-off at the lazy river, but during their walk back things go wrong.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 25





	The Nightmare That The Sewer Can Be

**Author's Note:**

> Yo back at it again with that angst, once again if you know me from Twitter you knew this was coming. I'm sorry for the title I'm not good at naming my fanfics.

It was a bright and sunny day, the sky was a bright blue and not a single cloud could be seen. The streets of New York were bustling with life and were crowded beyond belief with people, as they hurried throughout the streets. The roads were packed and felt like an endless stream of cars. But the bustling streets and crowded roads weren't a problem nor a concern for two turtles, who lived underground, underneath the streets of New York and deep in the sewers, away from the gazing and judgemental eyes of people, who unknowingly walked above them.

The two aforementioned turtles were Donnie and Mikey, they were both having a very rare but much needed day off, no training, no heroism to be done today. So both had decided to chill and since it was a warm day, they both decided that tubing in the lazy river would be a nice way to spend the day and it also gave them the chance to do some brotherly bonding, something the two rarely got to do together.

The two brothers raced through the maze of tunnels, heading to the lazy river. The labyrinth of endless paths would confuse most people but not them. Both carried an inflatable tube under their arm as they ran, Mikey stared at the back of his older brother who was ahead of him and he sped up elbowing said older brother making him yelp in surprise and trip on his own feet before he face-planted into the sewer floor. The box turtle laughed in victory looking over his shoulder at his brother, who was glaring up at him, and Mikey stuck his tongue out. "You're such a cheater Michael!" he heard his brother yell from behind him, but it didn't stop him and once he had reached the water's edge he slammed his tube into the river, sewer water splashed back at him before he flopped onto the tube. 

He closed his eyes enjoying the peace as he heard his brother's footsteps approach the water's edge, unlike him, Donnie didn't leap into the water instead carefully placing his tube in the water before he calmly hopped onto the aforementioned tube. Mikey rolled his eyes at his brother's caution, and splashed him with water, letting out a snicker as his brother glared at him. 

The two flowed calmly with the river, both brothers on their own assigned coloured tube, the sewer was quiet, so quiet you could a pin drop, the silence was only being disrupted by the occasional sound of dripping water from the leaky pipes or the sound of the water flowing in the sewer. But the noises didn't stop the brothers from enjoying their day-off, and the two happily let the water whisk them away. Not a single word being uttered by the two as they chose to enjoy the silence.

Mikey stared at his brother's back, a cheeky grin slowly appeared on his face as he splashed his older brother with water, he let out a laugh as Donnie yelped from the coldness of the water, and turned to glare at his younger brother. "Really Michael?" Donnie says very unimpressed but a small smile appeared on his face, before he splashed his brother back, but his younger brother only laughed, not bothered one bit by the water and the two continued to splash water at each other. Their yells and laughter had echoed throughout the sewer, filling the dark, damp place with much needed happiness. It was nice for them to let loose, to not be filled with concern, worry, to just be kids, it was such a rare thing for them and they clung to it, clung to the happiness, ignoring the problems of the world, they can worry about those later, save those troubles for another day, today was meant for nothing but smiles and happiness.

As the sun started to set in the sky, turning it a pretty orange and as the sewer started to get darker, the two decided it would be best to head back to the lair before it got too dark. The two paddled to the edge of the water and hop out taking their tubes with them. Mikey looked over his shoulder, towards the direction of the lair "It's gonna take forever to get back to the lair" he complained, the thought of having to walk back, was making his legs ache already in protest but Donnie only laughed and rested his hand on his brother's shoulder.

"You really think I would suggest this activity, if I didn't know a quicker way back to the lair?" he said with a prideful grin on his face, walking into one of the side tunnels of the sewer, Mikey yelled a quick 'wait up!' as he chased after his older brother. 

As they got further and further into the tunnel, Mikey stared at his brother, "Are you sure this is a quicker way?" he questioned.

With a scoff Donnie looked over his shoulder at his brother "Yes do you really doubt me? I know this sewer like the back of my hand and I know for a fact that this is one hundred percent a quicker way back to the lair" he ignored his brother's doubtful stare as they continued deeper into the tunnel.

The sewer tunnel was long and thin, and it felt like it stretched on forever, with no end, it was so dark in the tunnel that it was hard to see what was ahead of them, a small stream of water was flowing through the tunnel. The tunnel must occasionally have a large amount of water run through it, as the walls of the sewer were damp and moss was growing on the bricks. Mikey couldn't see the end of the tunnel, it was shrouded in darkness and he squinted his eyes as if that would let him see further into the tunnel. The roof of the tunnel was leaking water, it would drip onto Mikey's head and he shivered at how cold the water was, if the water was hitting his older brother, the tech wiz showed no sign of it. 

The roof groaned above him, as if it was struggling to stay up, to hold itself, it seemed like it could collapse at any moment and Mikey fiddled with his hands, and with a nervous swallow, he quickened his pace, to catch up to his older brother, who was ahead of him. The groaning sound seemed to get louder to him, it echoed down the tunnel and Mikey had to stop himself from whimpering, it was almost like a monster was in the tunnel with them, growling, in the darkness, watching them and waiting to strike when their guard was down, Mikey drops the tube he was holding and clings to his brother's arm who glanced down at him with concern, he couldn't tell if Donnie was concerned about Mikey, the noises the tunnel was making or both. The soft-shell turtle looked up at the roof, coming to a halt in his walking, forcing Mikey to stop walking as well. Small bits of rock and dust was raining from the roof and Donnie also dropped his tube and held his hand out in front of him, palm up in the air, catching the small bits of debris that fell from above, the groaning got louder and louder, ringing in their ears and Mikey covered his ears with his hands, trying to drown out the loud noise. Donnie's eyes widened as the roof above groaned once more, and the world around him almost seemed to slow down, as the roof started to fall directly above them. His eyes darted to his brother beside him and without a second thought he shoved Mikey, watching as his brother was shoved ahead of him and stumbled trying to stop himself from falling. Donnie could see the shadows of the debris covering him, but he had no time to jump out of the way, or even move as the world around him became shrouded in darkness and the debris collapsed on top of him, knocking him down to the floor of the tunnel as it fell, the breath being knocked out of him, his ears rang, and for a few seconds he could only lay in shock before excruciating pain erupted from his body and he screamed in pain. 

Donnie was covered by the rubble, it had smashed into his battle shell, breaking it into sharp pieces of metal that pierced into his actual shell, making it bleed, the blood dripped from the wounds and pooled around him, the pain was excruciating and it took everything in him to not black out from the pain. He could see black dots forming in his vision and he desperately tried to blink them away, he was biting his lip so hard he could feel it bleed, the amount of rubble on top of him was squashing him making it hard to breathe, his breath coming out in short gasps. He couldn't tell what was broken and what wasn't but every breath he took, every small movement was just all too much, too much pain, his eyes watered from the pain and he clenched his hands that were in front of him into fists, his nails dug into his palms. He was lucky in a way the rubble had landed in such a way so that his arms, shoulders and head hadn't been squashed, he had a small pocket, a small area around him that wasn't rubble, but the rest was, it was like a tomb around him, it was all dark, no light filtered through and he could almost feel his warm breath hit him back in his face. The tech on his wrist was broken, the screen cracked beyond repair, the goggles on his head were also cracked and broken. He could feel the shards of glass on the ground in front of him, and he almost yelled in anger, it was just his luck, that he was stuck here and he had no way of calling for help, but his brain was finally starting to catch up with his thoughts and his eyes widen, "MIKEY!" he called out, holding his breath, begging for his brother to be okay and he exhaled in relief when he heard his brother moving around. 

Mikey jolted in shock when his brother called out to him, he was filled with relief at the sound of his brother's voice, but it was muffled by the rubble. Mikey turned to look over his shoulder at the pile of rubble that blocked the tunnel that prevented him from seeing his brother. When his eyes widen, he couldn't feel anything past his waist, it was all numb and by what he could see, his legs seemed to be covered, squashed by the rubble and he whimpered in fear, he tried to pull himself forward, pull himself out of the rubble, but stops when it started to hurt, when it started to burn, when his eyes start to water in pain, when he realised he was stuck. He reached behind him trying to push the rubble away, but every time he moved the rubble it only seemed to be replaced with more, like an endless cycle. "I-I can't move" Mikey whimpered out, "I'm stuck." he called out hoping his brother would hear him and for a moment he thought maybe Donnie hadn't heard him and he went to open his mouth again, to repeat himself, but stopped when he had heard a faint curse, coming from his brother's mouth. 

"I'm stuck too Mikey, I can't move, I can't see, my tech is broken" Donnie responded after taking a few moments to compose himself and he heard his brother cry in frustration, he can hear it, hear his brother scramble once more to move the rumble, to free his brother, to free Donnie from the rubble tomb but the clawing his brother was doing stops when he heard Mikey let out a yelp of pain and Donnie clenched his teeth, to stop himself, from clawing at the rubble as well, he knew deep down if he did, if he even touched the rubble, maybe even breathed on it wrong, the whole thing could fall, could fall on him, could even fall onto Mikey, so instead he clenched his teeth harder, his eyes dart around, even though he cannot see into the darkness around him, but he desperately tried to think of a plan, he's the smart one, he always has a plan and he growls in frustration at the blankness in his mind.

Mikey stared at the palm of his hand, the hand he had cut trying to move the rumble, the blood leaked from the wound, painting his hand red, it dripped down onto the floor, the water on the floor turning a reddish colour, but he continued to stare at his palm. His eyes were wide and his mouth was open a gap, the tears were forming at the edges of his eyes, as the dread and realisation started to form, the dread such a brick in his stomach, and he couldn't stop the tears from falling, his sadness, his tears, a quiet melody, as he made no sound, no noise, just continued to watch the blood seep from the wound, continued to cry silently. The emotions, becoming such an overwhelming feeling and Mikey couldn't stop himself, couldn't stop as he curled his hands into fist, and punched the ground. He couldn't stop the scream that erupted from the back of his throat, as he let out a sob, the noise finally filling the tunnel, filling the silence, he couldn't stop the emotions, the sadness, the dread from leaking out of him, couldn't stop himself as he covered his face with his hands, not caring one bit about the blood that stained his face as he cried, he can feel it, like the embrace of a family member, the negative emotions seemed to wrap themselves around him, dragging him down into an endless pit of misery, but it all backed away, seemed to fade into the depths of his mind, when he heard his brother, heard Donnie call out to him and he immediately focused, clung to the word that left his brother's mouth, it may have only been a single word but it was enough to snap the small box turtle out of his overwhelming emotions and thoughts. "Mikey?..." His brother whispered out and he can hear the concern, the worry in Donnie's voice and it hurts Mikey, it hurts him so much.

"I'm okay.....I'm fine" Mikey responded taking a deep breath, and Donnie frowned when his brother responded, he knew his brother was lying, but he can also feel the hurt, the pain, the sadness in his brother's voice, he didn't know how badly Mikey was stuck, or how badly he was injured, he didn't even know how badly he himself was injured. It was all just numb and it scared Donnie though he wouldn't say that out loud in fear of scaring Mikey, but he was expecting it, waiting for the pain to hit him again, to burn, to make him scream and cry in pain, but it felt surreal to him and he fought back the panic that seemed to rise in him, it was getting harder to breathe the longer the soft-shell was trapped, it felt as if his ribs were digging into his organs, it felt like he was suffocating, he didn't know how much oxygen he had in the small area around him, but he doubted it was much. He couldn't stop the guilt from pooling in his stomach, it was his fault, that they were in this mess, and now they were trapped, with no way out, no way to call for help and he hated it, he hated how helpless he felt, he had tried so hard, to make himself not helpless, made himself tech, so he could be as strong as his siblings, so they wouldn't think he was weak, so they wouldn't think he was...soft. He built his tech to protect himself, to protect his shell, but to also allow him to play, to do things with his brothers without them or Splinter looking at him with such concern, such caution, like he was fragile glass, he hated the looks, he hated the feeling of helplessness yet here he was, helpless, unable to do anything, unable to think. His thoughts were so scattered, so sporadic that he couldn't think, couldn't think of a plan to get them out, and he hated it. He could hear Mikey talking, but he couldn't focus on the words that left his brother's mouth, the words seemed to merge together for Donnie, and the longer he laid trapped, the harder it seemed to get to breathe, he wanted to scream in frustration, to claw at the rubble, and he had to clench his teeth together hard to stop the screams that clawed in the back of his throat. He could feel the warm sensation of blood, dripping from his shell and onto the ground and his eyes widened as dread started to set in and Donnie took deep breaths as he tried to compose himself. Once he did, he honed in on Mikey's words trying to desperately distract himself, take his focus away from the dread, he just needed it, needed something, anything, to keep his thoughts away from the absolute hopelessness and dread that was filling his mind like a plague.

He still couldn't process what his brother was saying, the words still forming together, becoming incoherent nonsense, but he could still hear it, could still focus on the words, even if they didn't make sense to him, yet he could hear how hopeless Mikey was, how he knew how hopeless their situation was, how small of a chance it was to be found and rescued. He didn't even need to see his brother, no he could hear it in his voice, he could hear it by the way Mikey's voice wavered when he spoke, like he was desperately trying to keep himself together, keep himself from breaking down again, and Donnie smiled sadly, as he stared at the ground, he wanted to say something, anything, that could reassure his brother, but when he opened his mouth no words formed and he bit the inside of his mouth in anger, he wished for once, that he was as good as Leo was at reassuring people.

"Tell me a...story" Donnie muttered, cutting his brother off, from whatever he was talking about and he could tell that Mikey was relieved, at just hearing Donnie speak, but Donnie wasn't focused on that, he was just trying to distract his brother, distract him from their situation. He hears him, hears his younger brother hum trying to think of a story he could talk about, something to cheer them up, to distract them, but Donnie wasn't focused on that no he couldn't do it anymore, couldn't focus on it, he rested his head on the ground, he could almost feel himself, laying in a pool of his own blood, he couldn't see it, but he could sense it, could smell it, could smell its metallic scent, it reeked in his nose and filled the space around him, until he couldn't smell anything else. Not even the stench of the sewer could block out the scent of blood, Donnie was tried, so tired, it hurt, everything hurt, it was all so much, he decided to just rest, close his eyes, just for a few moments, no one could blame him, for just resting his eyes, and then he would be ready, to think of a plan, to get them out alive, they would be okay, he just needed to rest for a few moments.

As Mikey thinks of a story, of something to tell his brother, he can tell something was wrong, by how quiet it got, it was dead silent, yes it was dead silent before but something felt off, something felt wrong. He couldn't tell what exactly was wrong, but it made him scared he tried to shake the feeling away, but it was just so quiet, but he tried, he tried to keep hope, he wanted to reassure Donnie that it'll all be fine, that they'll make it out of this alive, that help will come soon, that their brother's will come looking for them, that they'll be fine, that they just need to hold on, to stay awake just a little bit longer, but he just couldn't, the words were almost stuck in the back of his throat. He turned to stare into the darkness of the tunnel as a soft smile appeared on his face. "Remember that time we stole the moon buggy from that mutant repo guy? We should do something like that again, when we are out of this, it was really fun and I wanna do something like that with you again" He exclaimed eagerly awaiting his brother's response, but he heard nothing, not even a breath from the other turtle, and Mikey let out a choked sob, a sad smile forming on his face, as he banged on the rubble behind him with his uninjured hand. "Donnie?...." Mikey whispered "Please Donnie, just say something....anything....please" his voice getting quieter and quieter with each word that left his mouth, the younger turtle sobbed as he pleaded, for a response from his brother, but he was met with nothing but silence.

Mikey started to scream for help, the tears continued to fall as he did, he begged for help, clawing at the rubble that he can reach, that trapped him, he yelled in frustration when it didn't move, he banged his fist against it till it hurt. The emotions, the sadness, the grief, all poured out him like a waterfall and it was all too much for him. He let out a whimper of defeat as he rested his head against the sewer floor, the tears blurred his vision as he stared into the darkness ahead of him, that seemed to itch closer and closer to him, like a hunger beast ready to devour him and he could do nothing to stop it, his throat felt raw from all the screaming, all the crying, the silence was deafening and he begged his brother to say something, do something, anything to show that he was okay, that he was alive, but he was still met with nothing but dead silence. He hated it, hated the silence, he called out again for Donnie, even though he knew deep down he won't get a response, but that didn't stop the sob he let out when he got nothing, the grief, the sadness, the pain, the dread all form together and settle like a brick in his stomach, he felt sick, it hurt, everything hurt, everything was just too much, so overwhelming for him, he was so tired, but he clung to the false hope of being rescued, because if he didn't cling to it, who would?

His eyes started to close, his eyelids just felt so heavy, his body, the parts he could feel, felt heavy, he felt like a brick, he couldn't feel his legs still. But maybe if he just closed his eyes, just for a little bit, he would wake up, and see his brother's in front of him, or maybe he would wake up in his room, maybe this was just some nightmare, he tried to convince himself, as he squeezed his eyes shut, waiting to wake up, he wanted to wake up, somewhere, anywhere that wasn't here, he just wanted this nightmare to end.

But he was jolted awake, he lifted his head up, he could hear something, it echoed ahead, in the darkness of the tunnel, it rushed towards him, and he grinned, his mind so certain, so convinced, that it was his brothers, rushing to him, coming to save them. He looked over his shoulder at the rubble "Don't worry Donnie, help is coming, I can hear it, just hold on alright, we'll get you out" he whispered, there was no response but he didn't need one, he turns back to stare into the tunnel, waiting, hoping, to see his two other brothers but his grin was wiped from his face, his eyes widen in fear and horror. He screamed in terror at the rushing water that was coming towards him, that envelopes him, he could feel the water all around him, the water was so cold, so very cold that it made him shiver, the water filled the tunnel. The water stung his eyes and he squeezed them shut tightly, he reached his arm up, trying desperately to feel for the surface of the water, but he cannot reach it, he clawed at the rubble that trapped him, the rubble he could reach. His clawing got more desperate, the longer he was under the water, he tried to lift the rubble, tried to free himself, he can feel himself getting more and more desperate, as the need to breathe got stronger and stronger, his lungs screamed at him, demanded him to breathe, but he subconsciously held his breath, as he continued to try and free himself, to escape, but with each passing second that ticked by, his body grew weaker and weaker. His body felt heavier than it had before, and he flopped onto the sewer floor. He couldn't stop himself, couldn't stop his body as it inhaled the water, he felt it, flooding his lungs and it burnt, he clawed around him, clawed into the floor of the sewer, clawed at his throat, as his body shook, trying to cough the water up, the shaking only getting more and more violent as he inhaled more and more water, his body screamed, begged for oxygen and to cough the water up, but he just couldn't, he couldn't move, his body was just so heavy, his brain buzzed with the need to breathe, the need to escape, he could feel the panic, but it just felt so far away to him, he wanted to escape, he begged, pleaded for his body to try and escape again. Maybe this time he could do it, maybe this time he could free himself, but his body just wouldn't obey him, wouldn't move just laid there no matter how loud he screamed in his mind, how much he demanded it to move. His brain hurt, throbbed and he could feel his heart racing, beating but it was just so loud in his ears, too loud. There was also a ringing, in his ears, it was all so loud, too loud, he wanted to survive, he wanted to see his brothers again, he wanted to be there for Donnie when this was all over, he didn't want to die, but he couldn't see anything besides the murky water, his body started going limp, his mind going blank, as he just gave up, his body gave up, it was all a hazy mess, he could feel it, feel his lungs as they gave up, feel the thumping of his heart, as it grew weaker in his ears, when it had once been so loud. He felt no pain, he felt nothing but comfort as he had finally let go of the consciousness and false hope he had held onto so dearly.


End file.
